FORTE MONTECCHIO – COLICO

4A TUR 2024 – 2025

Fort Montecchio Nord, located in Colico, is one of the few military forts from the First World War that has preserved its own armament of that period.

It represents a unique testimony of its type in Italy and is enlisted among the best preserved forts in Europe.

It has been built with the purpose of defending the territory from possible enemy attacks, coming from Switzerland, from Germans and Austro-Hungarians, but it has never been directly involved in global conflicts.

The visit to Fort Montecchio Nord allows you to explore from a short distance, the architecture and the technology adopted in the first years of the century of the 20th century.

The interiors still conserve the four 149.35 mm Schneider cannons capable of hitting the target from a distance of almost 14 kilometres.

It is a rare example of a military structure that maintaines intact its historic and technical components.

The Fort’s cannons were used only once, on 27th April 1945 during the final days of the Second World War; the partisans shot them while on the other side of Lake Como, the Italian-Germanic armies were escaping to Switzerland, after Benito Mussolini had been captured in Dongo.

This episode marks the only war use of the Fort. 

The Fort is located in a dominant and panoramic position, from where you can have a breathtaking view on the high part of Lake Como. The surrounding landscape includes the Pian di Spagna Natural Reserve, The Mezzola Lake, the mouth of the Adda River and Mount Legnone.

Its strategic location used to guarantee an efficient control on Valtellina and Valchiavenna.